Mr. Paradise

Late afternoon Chloe and Kelly were having cocktails at the Rattlesnake Club, the two seated on the far side of the dining room by themselves: Chloe talking, Kelly listening, Chloe trying to get Kelly to help her entertain Anthony Paradiso, an eighty-four-year-old guy who was paying her five thousand a week to be his girlfriend. (++)

Gets Points For:

• Another great Elmore Leonard outing.

• A compulsive page turner.

Loses Points For

• I have no complaints with this book.

Possible Mitigating Factors:

• There’s a blatant reference to a Steely Dan song in this one – accident or intentional?.

JCF’s Comments:

This is Leonard’s first Detroit Homicide novel in twenty years or so, and it’s a fun ride. A melancholy homicide detective, two corpses, two hit men, and a few other Leonardesque characters meet and bounce off of one another. As with all his books, everyone gets what they deserve… but it doesn’t happen in quite the way you think it will. Great stuff.